Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
The emotional and clearly physical abuse ran deep, and it made me want to destroy the next O'Brien I laid eyes on.
“You never have to apologize to me,” I said. “I want to keep you safe. That's all I want.”
She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “I’ve been thinking about that. About the best way to keep me safe.”
“And?”
“And it's the one thing you're refusing to do.”
I couldn't help but smile just a little.
She was more courageous than she even knew.
“You have to consummate this marriage,” she said, like I didn’t know what she was referring to.
Slowly, I spanned the distance between us, and she didn't lose my gaze as I came closer. So close that all it would take was one touch and I could have her against me.
“You keep offering yourself up like that without realizing it won’t save you in the end. What I'm trying to do is ensure that you'll be safe and in control of your life and your future before we annul this.”
A little fear trickled into her eyes.
Good, she should be afraid of me—not in the physical sense because she knows I’d never hurt her, but in the sense that she wasn’t really prepared to intertwine herself in my life like she kept asking.
“Maybe you're the one who's afraid,” she said, and I cocked a brow at her. She gave me a little shrug. “Maybe you're afraid that you'll cross that line and won't be able to come back from it.”
Jesus, this woman. How could she see through me so easily? She barely even knew me.
“I'd ruin you,” I said. “If I gave you what you wanted, it might protect you for a little bit, but it would ruin you in all other ways that mattered.”
Because she was good. She deserved someone who was wholly and unquestionably good. Someone who would take her to farmers markets, not family meetings or places she could become a target just for being attached to me.
I may have gone legitimate for the last few years, but I had a sordid history and a tumultuous life that constantly threatened to bleed through the seams of the future I'd created. Tying her to me even in this way put her at risk, but if we went all in?
There really would be no going back.
“That's the funny thing about all this,” she said, reaching for the mug, pouring herself a big cup of coffee and walking past me.
“What is?” I finally asked.
“I'm already ruined,” she said. “There's nothing you could do that would make my life any worse.” She held my gaze as she took a sip of the hot coffee, then turned on her bare feet and walked down the hallway. Her words lingered for far longer than they should’ve.
CHAPTER 4
Serenity
The door to the guest bedroom that I claimed as mine was thrown open.
The force was so hard it cracked against the wall, jerking me awake.
My father and his two favorite guards, Trent and Brad, stormed into the room so quickly I didn’t even have time to throw the comforter off of my body. A swift backhand made my cheek sting, a sensation I was all too familiar with. My bottom lip trembled as my father hovered over me.
“You've failed me,” he said.
Trent and Brad pinned me to the bed, holding me down as I tried to scramble away. My father’s hand darted out like a snake strike, clenching my throat.
He squeezed.
Hard.
I flailed, digging my nails into his hand, trying to pry it away as the air dwindled in my lungs. My heart slammed rapidly against my chest, adrenaline coursing through my veins as my body tried to fight off the three men.
My limbs slackened, tingling with their lack of strength until I was just smacking limply as he continued to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.
I couldn't breathe.
The last thing I'd ever see would be his angry, disappointed eyes.
I didn't want to die like this—
A choking gasp tore through me, my heart racing furiously as I bolted upright in bed.
It took me a minute to orient myself.
I was in the same bed, in the same guest room, but I was alone.
Late afternoon sunlight trickled in through the partially slanted blinds from the bay windows across the room. I’d fallen asleep sometime after breakfast, having intended only to curl up for a minute and rest my eyes.
It was a dream. A dream.
I silently repeat this to myself until my heart stopped racing and my fingers stopped trembling. But try as I might, I couldn’t get rid of the sensation of my father's hand wrapped around my throat.
I focused on my breathing, doing my best to ease my racing mind. It’d been one week since I'd gathered the courage to knock on Gareth’s hotel door.
One week since he’d flown me to Vegas and given me his last name.